


Falling Stars

by Redisaid



Series: Falling [4]
Category: Warcraft - All Media Types, Warcraft III, World of Warcraft
Genre: Cultural Differences, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, God they're so fucking cute together I can't even, Magical Shenanigans, More Jaina headcanons, Pre-Third War, Secret Relationship, Sponge for President, Stream of Consciousness, There's a shit ton of magic in here how did this happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-10-02 14:02:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17265503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redisaid/pseuds/Redisaid
Summary: A further continuation of the Falling series. Jaina begins to have trouble finding a place for both her new relationship with Sylvanas, and her dream of being a member of the Kirin Tor in Dalaran.





	Falling Stars

_I’m sorry! No faster way to tell you...I won’t be here when we agreed to meet. Same problem as usual, but a different prince. Only have a few minutes to write this. I will find a way to let you know when I’m free of him. Don’t wait for me._

_\- J_

It was the worst note she’d ever written, both in content and in penmanship standards. Still, there was no time left to do any better. Jaina took one more forlorn glance around the cabin before stashing the note half under a bowl on the table. She placed a flower she had certainly not just hastily plucked from a potted plant in Dalaran into said bowl, then tapped the return rune on her teleportation charm.

It sent her back to the powder room of the Legerdemain, one of the nicer inns in Dalaran. She could hear the crowd in the tap room had grown larger and louder in the few minutes she'd been gone. Many voices made up the din, most of them speaking with the flat Lordaeron accent that she had been taught from a very early age to imitate, as was only proper. Some of them she knew, many of them she didn't, but now they were here for her.

“I was wondering where you ran off to,” Arthas said as she emerged. He smiled and slid his arm across her shoulders, then turned her toward the crowd. “Hey everyone! I found the birthday girl!”

This was not how she had planned on spending her twentieth birthday. Not at all. She’d planned to be in Sylvanas’ arms all night, talking about nothing important, just being with her. Sylvanas, who wouldn’t have even known it was her birthday. Jaina had made no plans to tell her. Sylvanas was honestly better off not knowing how old she was, or rather, how young. And that was fine. It was going to be perfect. Jaina could never have asked for a better celebration.

Yet there she was, being paraded around and made fuss over instead.

Because this was the Jaina Proudmoore that everyone else knew. The Jaina that would have been happy to hang on Arthas’ arm all night, being reintroduced to his paladin friends for the third time. The Jaina that would have her accomplishments bragged about to mages she didn’t know, only blush and wave them off. The Jaina that she now knew was expected of her, but not her. A picture she painted for the court of Lordaeron, where everyone expected her to end up one day. 

And now she was trying to think of ways to push that day further and further away, or maybe even avoid it all together.

But in that moment, for that night, she just had to smile and pretend again. She raised the same glass of wine that she kept sipping at for hours, laughed at jokes that she didn’t find funny, and used every scrap of diplomacy that had been drilled into her to get through it all. 

All the while, Arthas’ hand always found her--on her back, on her shoulders, at her elbow--guiding her, as if she needed guiding. By the end of the night, she was very much over it. 

The crowd he’d gathered had thinned out. Most of his friends had thankfully disappeared, journeying back to their homes or their stations in Lordaeron. Jaina was finally starting to relax, and had found her own friends. Modera and Rhonin were chatting her up about their studies, as mages tended to do, but it was certainly the best conversation she’d had all night.

Until Arthas’ hand was on her...again. Ever since he’d shown up in Dalaran a few days before, it always was.

“It’s getting a little late,” he said as he gave her shoulder a little squeeze. “Why don’t I walk you back to the Citadel?”

Jaina shrugged out of his grip, not even thinking about it, just wanting to be free of it. “We’re still chatting here. Maybe in a little while?”

The dumbfounded look on the prince’s face was her immediate warning that she had crossed a line that she shouldn't have. His blue eyes were open wide. If he were an elf, his ears would have been sticking straight up. That much she knew.

She also knew that Arthas was not used to being told no, much less by her. 

His eyes narrowed. “Well then,” he said, making no effort to cover his annoyance. “When you’re ready, Lady Proudmoore.”

Even Modera and Rhonin seemed to understand what she had just done, though neither said a thing. Still, they had a haunted look about them as they wrapped up the conversation all too quickly. Modera even shot Jaina a sympathetic glance as she left, but she left her all the same.

Jaina glanced back at Arthas, who hung near an exit, alone for the first time that night. She thought of ways to avoid him. There were many. She could just leave. But she couldn’t. 

She really couldn’t.

For the sake of every moment she could spend away, she had to continue to make this life work. She had to keep painting the picture. 

“Sorry,” she offered as she joined him. “We were just wrapping up. I didn’t want to--”

“It’s fine,” Arthas cut her off, not letting her explain. “Let’s go.”

Again, his hand was on her, all but pushing her out the door. 

“I don’t understand you, Jaina,” he began as they made their way out of earshot of any of the remaining patrons. 

“What do you mean?” she asked him, trying to keep her tone even.

“You’ve changed.”

She absolutely had. He was right. 

She didn’t want him to know that. “How?” Jaina asked.

“I guess it’s just from all this attention you’ve been getting,” he rationalized, “with your magic and all. Your little adventures.”

Not wanting to goad him on or encourage that train of thought, Jaina kept silent. 

“Then you go and tell people we’re together?” Arthas wondered, turning to face her finally. “Yet you brush me off and barely speak to me when I’ve taken time off to come visit you? I’m trying to figure out what it is you’re after here. What changed?”

“Listen, I don't know how you found out about that, but it doesn't matter. You should understand that I said that to throw Kael’thas off. He was trying to pursue me. I couldn’t think of a better way to tell him off,” Jaina explained. 

His hand finally dropped from her back, curling into a fist at his side. 

“And that’s what I am to you then, an excuse?” Arthas asked her. “I was fairly certain that you were the one that came crying to me when you were supposed to be leaving to study in Dalaran, telling me you didn’t want to be without me.”

“That was four years ago,” she told him flatly. 

“So you have changed then,” Arthas accused.

“I’ve grown up,” Jaina said. “We were children, Arthas. We made the right choice then, even if I didn’t see it that way. I know it now. We’re still making the right choice. We had a lot to learn still, about life, not just about our callings. We still have a lot more to learn.”

“What do you think I thought then, when Kael’thas sent me that letter?” he asked her, knuckles on that fist gone completely white. “When he told me that I had nothing to worry about? That you were still mine? Or did you think that it didn’t matter? That nothing matters besides you and your damn magic?”

“Arthas please, there’s no need to shout,” she said, noticing that his voice had grown a little too loud. “He sent you a letter? I promise you it was just a spur of the moment thing. I didn’t think--”

“No, you didn’t think,” he told her. “You didn’t think at all. For once, the brilliant little mage didn’t think. You didn’t think how your words would affect me.”

She’d seen him like this before. It was rare, but even as a child, she’d known him to fly into a rage over the silliest things. Misunderstandings had always been a chore with him. It was usually best to make an escape and let him cool down, but Jaina wasn’t sure how to go about it this time. 

“Why are you so angry? It’s--”

“Because I wanted it to be true! I wanted--”

Arthas stopped himself. He turned around to face the scuffing of boots across the cobblestones, coming from the direction of the inn they were walking away from. A group of Lordaeron soldiers came into view, then saluted their prince as they approached. 

“Prince Arthas,” the officer at their head called. “I have an urgent message from your father.”

Arthas shot Jaina one last icy glare before he gathered himself. He took a deep breath, and a practiced, regal calm came over him. It was almost impressive. Almost. “Well? What is it man?” he asked the soldier.

“He’s asked for your aid. There’s an orc rebellion getting out of hand near Strahnbrad. Your assistance is needed there,” the man reported.

“Strahnbrad? Isn’t that Uther’s territory? Why would the old man need my help?” Arthas questioned him.

“I’m not certain, my prince,” the officer said. “All I know is that I have been asked to beseech you to come to his aid, and quickly. Your father requested you be ready to ride out at dawn.”

Arthas didn’t even look back at Jaina as he said, “Responsibility calls, then, and so I will have to follow. Maybe you’ll come to understand that soon enough, Lady Proudmoore.”

\---

It was too late, but she didn’t care. Jaina didn’t want to be in her room in Dalaran that night. If she were going to lose sleep worrying about Arthas, then at least she could do it while talking to Sponge. The elemental was a great listener, if nothing else. Sylvanas would have seen her note and left already, but spending a sleepless night in a bed that should have held them both was better than the alternative.

So the smell of woodsmoke was not what she was expecting to find as she teleported into the cabin. Nor was she expecting to find an elf sitting on the bed, looking up at her with her eyes reading bewildered, but her ears reading bemused.

“Were you waiting for me?” Jaina asked before she’d even fully materialized, giving her voice an odd, warbling echo. “Didn’t you see my note?”

Sylvanas laughed. “I did. Would you believe that I would rather sleep here than in a camp bed? I’d love to say that I was hoping you would rid yourself of your problem quick enough to come as planned anyway, but I am here purely out of selfish comfort. And now I get to be pleasantly surprised.”

True to form, Sylvanas was in her ranger leathers, though she’d shed some of them before getting into bed. She was left in only a thin undershirt, and a pair of tight leather breeches. She held her arms out, inviting Jaina to join her.

That was everything she needed and more. Jaina all but fell into her. “I’m so glad you’re here. I don’t really care why,” she said into the silken strands of Sylvanas’ hair. 

“Likewise,” Sylvanas said as she kissed her temple. She pulled Jaina into her lap and began to stroke gently alone her spine. “It seems like you’ve had a rough night. You don’t have to tell me about it if you don’t want to. But if you do, I’ll listen.”

“I’m a horse’s ass,” Jaina complained into her shoulder, even as Sylvanas’ touch was already melting the tension from her. “I should have known that what I said to Kael’thas would come back to haunt me.”

“I thought your note said it was a different prince?” Sylvanas asked as she tucked a stray strand of hair behind Jaina’s ear and kissed the bit of cheek it revealed.

“That’s just it. It was. Arthas came to Dalaran for a surprise visit a few days ago. He’s been all over me since. I wondered what was getting into him, but then he told me that Kael’thas sent him a letter to let him know that he didn’t want to intrude on his courtship of me. I guess that gave the impression that there still was a courtship,” Jaina told her.

“Oh Jaina,” Sylvanas said, sliding down so that she could look her in the eye. “You’ve gone and played the two against one another now, yet it’s come back to you. You’re too beautiful for you own good, that’s why.”

“Stop,” Jaina commanded with a mock shove against the elf’s chest. “We both know this has very little to do with how I look.”

“But you’re still stunning,” Sylvanas told her with a smirk.

“I swear, if you don’t stop this instant,” Jaina threatened, even as she finally felt a smile pulling at her lips.

“Fine,” Sylvanas relented as she thumbed the corner of Jaina’s mouth that had betrayed her. “So what, he thought he would swoop in and be exactly what Kael’thas thinks he is to you? Didn’t you tell him that it was just to shake our darling heir off your tail?”

“Of course I did,” Jaina said, leaning back into Sylvanas’ shoulder. “He didn’t really let me explain. But you said it exactly. Arthas thought that me telling off Kael’thas and using him as my excuse was as good as writing him a love letter myself.”

Sylvanas eyes were bright as she went on, “What if I write him another letter, but this time, say it’s from...hmm...King Wrynn of Stormwind? Yes, King Wrynn claiming to be in love with you. Ooh, or let’s get even more exotic--King Magni Bronzebeard, the dwarf!”

Despite everything, Jaina found herself laughing. “Please! Princes are one thing! I don’t need kings!”

“You deserve emperors,” Sylvanas told her as she placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head.

“And yet I’m hiding away here with you instead,” Jaina said, even as she snuggled in closer.

“I guess I should be thrilled that you’re willing to settle for a mere Ranger General,” Sylvanas said, shaking Jaina with her laughter. 

Jaina laughed with her, breathing in the scent of the forest from her clothing. “I never got to properly explain, though,” she continued. “He got called away to help with some orc rebellion. I came here because I just...I needed a place to calm down. I think what I really needed was you.”

“Then I’m glad I was selfish in seeking a comfortable bed for the night,” Sylvanas said, running her hand along Jaina’s back again.

If Jaina had been uncomfortably aware of Arthas’ hands before, she was very comfortably aware of Sylvanas’ now. It was a touch she would never shy away from. Every little brush of those fingertips brought another bit of ease with them. She could feel the apprehension washing off of her, as if Sylvanas was just brushing it away. 

Jaina sat up enough to kiss her properly, having no words to show her appreciation otherwise. 

“So glad,” Sylvanas said when she finally pulled away.

“I would have much rather spent my birthday here with you,” Jaina told her. “Doing that, instead of arguing with him and going to that awful party.”

“Your birthday?” Sylvanas asked, her ears twitching and her face otherwise speaking of a hint of disappointment. “You didn’t tell me…”

Fuck. She hadn’t meant to. “I...I didn’t want to make a fuss,” Jaina explained. “Do elves even do anything for birthdays?”

Sylvanas laughed again, shaking her head. “Not after enough of them, no. Still, I would have gotten you a present.”

“You’re the best present I could have asked for,” Jaina objected. “Wait...how--”

“Do not even ask that question you are starting to ask,” Sylvanas warned. “I will kiss it from your pretty lips every time. Don’t you worry about how old I am.”

She could probably guess, if she wanted to. She could definitely find out, if she cared that much. But she didn’t really. Sylvanas was here. She was making her smile. She was everything that Jaina needed in that moment.

“Then I won’t,” Jaina answered. “But you can still kiss me.”

So she did. Gently and slowly. As it was with everything they did together, that kiss was so comfortable and easy. There was no tension in it, no worry, and certainly no expectations.

And as it was with everything they were continuing to do together, it was hard not to let it spill over into something more. Jaina didn’t want to stop that, though. Dalaran Jaina was the one that didn’t given in to such desires. Cabin Jaina, the real Jaina, well, she didn’t like to hold back.

“Keep that up and I will have to find you a spectacular present,” Sylvanas warned, even as she kissed her way across Jaina’s jawline.

“What did you have in mind?” Jaina asked, just about melting into her. 

“Hmm,” Sylvanas hummed, contemplating against her neck, causing Jaina to shiver as the elf’s breath tickled at the sensitive skin there. “I could think of some things, but only if you are up to them. If you’d rather just sleep beside me, then that’s just fine too.”

“Oh, that kind of present, huh?” Jaina wondered.

“Only if you want it,” Sylvanas said, ceasing her attentions for a moment to let Jaina decide.

Jaina answered that with another heated kiss. 

Once again she found herself being delicately stripped of her clothes. Sylvanas’ careful hands were welcome on every part of her body. Jaina pressed herself into them. They erased every unwanted touch that Arthas had laid upon her over the last few days, overwriting them with gentle caresses and sweet whispers against her skin. Rid of her robes, of the confines of cloth that marked her as anything other than the skin that Sylvanas was lighting on fire for her--kindling as carefully as she would the embers of a new fire--she finally felt at ease.

Sylvanas kissed a trail down her, lavishing every bit of skin with attention. A shoulder was just as worthy of her lips as a breast. Each time Jaina tried to pull her back up to reciprocate, the lithe elf would just slide out of her grip, only to graze her teeth along a hip bone, or dare to leave a little mark on her thigh. When her assault was finally complete, Sylvanas was kneeling between her thighs. She gave Jaina a little smile before whipping her hair back and tucking it behind her long ears. 

“What are you--”

Jaina’s question was answered before she could finish asking it. Sylvanas placed a kiss on the one part of her that hadn’t yet received any attention. The one that Jaina was painfully aware of. A long and lingering kiss, followed by a testing swipe of a warm tongue. Then another, harder and bolder, and another.

Jaina hissed as it sent her nerves alight. This...this was not something she had thought about before, or knew was a thing that people did, but damn if it wasn’t her new favorite thing in the world. 

Sylvanas’ laughter buzzed up her thighs as she drew back. “Would that be a suitable gift?” she asked as she sucked another mark into Jaina’s inner thigh.

“As long as you promise to keep doing that,” Jaina answered, already fighting to keep her hips stable.

Sylvanas had a solution for that too. She grabbed hold of each thigh before directing her attentions back to Jaina’s center, holding them down in a firm, but still tender grip. Even that was hardly enough to keep her contained. It was all so good. Each rasp of Sylvanas’ tongue sent her spiraling to new heights. Jaina was quickly made aware that, as good as that first night had been with her, there were many better ones yet to follow, especially if Sylvanas had any more tricks like this to show her.

As much as she wanted this to go on forever, Jaina was quickly reaching her peak, fists balled in the sheets of their humble little bed. Breath was a thing that her body only drew in when absolutely necessary, lest any unnecessary gasp disturb the waves of pleasure that were washing over her. She managed to find Sylvanas’ hair with one shaking hand and tried her best not to tug too hard on it. 

“Sylvanas,” Jaina keened, finding that the smooth syllables of her name fell off her tongue so naturally, even as no other words could make it past her lips. 

Sylvanas didn’t stop to acknowledge that. She kept to the delightfully slow pace that had brought Jaina this far. 

“Sylvanas,” Jaina said again, though this time the name shuddered out with a shaking gasp, causing the end of it to hiss out, only to turn into a moan as Jaina fell apart. 

Even then Sylvanas didn’t stop, though she gentled her pace, and kept just enough pressure to let Jaina ride out the last bit of her orgasm. Only then did she pull away, kissing down Jaina’s thigh, heedless of the tremors that wracked it. She waited there for Jaina to come down, resting her head on the thigh she’d just claimed until it was still again.

Jaina opened her eyes to find Sylvanas smirking up at her. “I hope that improved your day a little,” the elf said. “I know it certainly made mine.”

“You...you...I didn’t…” Jaina tried to convey, but found that breath was still in far too short supply to convey an entire sentence, and that her mind was still reeling too much to form one anyway.

Sylvanas chuckled and crawled up the bed to lay beside her. She kissed Jaina, letting her taste a trace of herself on her lips. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Can I...do that to you?” Jaina asked. 

“I was hoping that you’d want to try, my pretty mage,” Sylvanas told her. 

\---

“You are going to have to come out some time,” Jaina said to the floor. 

She was only glad that no one else was in the cabin. Even Sylvanas might have given her an incredulous look at that point. She'd been sitting in a chair by the hearth for an hour now, maybe longer, just staring at a small, but constant drip coming from the mantle.

“I know you want to,” she said, this time looking up into the rafters. “Don't think I haven't noticed you following me around. You know I can sense you. In fact, I think that's why you're doing it.”

She had honestly been spending far too much of her time in Alterac these last few weeks. People were actually starting to notice how little time she spent in the usual coworking spaces and communal areas of the Citadel. But Jaina couldn't be bothered with that. Even if Sylvanas couldn't join her there very often, she was beginning to vastly prefer the quiet beauty of the mountains over the everyday hustle and bustle of Dalaran. Jaina was determined to enjoy their hideaway to its fullest extent before the snows claimed it once more. But autumn was quickly descending, bringing a distinct chill to the mountain air, and reducing the abundant fields of wildflowers to mere grassy meadows. 

But she didn't need to be worrying about the passage of time and the circular march of the seasons now. She was about to make a breakthrough...maybe.

Another drip. A single drop. 

Jaina sighed. “I don’t want to ask you to do anything you don't want to, but you need to make up your mind. I know you are not bound to this place by any sort of spell. You are here of your own free will. Why that is, I still don't fully understand. I don't know if I ever will.”

Two drops this time.

“I'm just worried about you. You don’t belong here. There are plenty of beautiful little springs and little streams around here. I've been taking walks to them, hoping you would follow me and show some interest, yet those are the times you stay put. I've seen others like you there. No doubt that you came from one of those places, before you ended up here,” Jaina went on, trying to coax the elemental out with words.

Back to a single drop again, damn.

“But something keeps you here,” Jaina reasoned. “A bond to a master that isn't coming back for you. What did these people do for you that made you love them so--that inspired such loyalty? You are meant to be a fickle thing, as changing as the tides.”

She stood up. Her legs were beginning to fall asleep. Jaina paced as she continued to speak. “I hate it when I can't understand things, Sponge. I really do. All my life I have been told that if I just put enough effort into my studies, then the world will make sense. For the most part, that's been true, but for every aspect of my life that I try to master, I find another that I just can't grasp. There's no book that tells me what to do about you. You or Sylvanas…”

Jaina walked over to the mantle, and brushed a wreath that hung above it. It was made of intricately braided willow boughs, interwoven with the last of the summer wildflowers, which were now beginning to dry in its confines. Sylvanas had made it during her last visit, and shown Jaina the spring that she had found the willow by as well. Sponge had shown no interest in that one either. 

“Yet I can't stop thinking about either of you,” Jaina lamented. “I guess it should be pretty obvious what I need to do about her. Or at least what I can do. I want to be with her all the time, but that's never going to be possible for us.”

Water began to seep out of the stone of the chimney behind the wreath. Gentle droplets landed on the dying flowers, trying their best to keep the fresh and bright for just a little longer. 

“I should just enjoy the time I do get with her, and try not to think about things I can't have, right?” Jaina asked. “Or maybe I should realize that I am now trying to ask a sentient puddle for advice…”

Cold water splashed onto her fingers, causing her to snatch them away with a laugh. “Or do you like it when I whine about my love life then? Maybe you secretly like her better than me. I can't blame you for that. She's...she's just perfect,” Jaina continued. 

Another drip falling from the mantle was her answer to that. 

“I didn't come here today to gush to you about Sylvanas, though,” she told the elemental. “I'm going to that nice spring I was telling you about again. I was hoping you would want to come along. You can drink as much as you want there. You don't want to miss out on that, do you?”

No drip answered that question. Even the air around her seemed to lose its moisture. 

No, she was not going to win this battle today.

Jaina sighed again, but made no further attempt to get Sponge to follow her. She headed toward the door, taking her enchanted cloak from a peg near it, and swept it onto her shoulders. Modera’s enchantment was truly masterful, and she felt the garment instantly begin to radiate a tingling coolness across her skin as she stepped out into the summer sun. 

Everything about that afternoon spoke of one last desperate burst of life. Though the flowers were gone, their seeds were everywhere, in the form of burrs sticking to her skirt, or puffs of dandelions riding the wind. A herd of white mountain goats ran over a distant peak, playing in the sun. Birds danced in the sky, circling the currents of warm air to take them higher and higher above the world. 

These were things that Jaina hadn’t paid much attention to before. Sylvanas pointed them out to her, when they walked these valleys together. Now it was all she could do to look away. There was so much natural beauty here in Alterac. Where else had she missed it? 

She took her time walking to the spring, arriving close to sunset. She hadn’t taken time to properly analyze it the first time she went there. There were no elementals to be seen there, but the presence of a few swaying willows where there were otherwise no other such trees of that kind was telling. Jaina took a seat on a large flat rock under one of said willows, letting its branches encompass her like a blanket fort from her childhood. 

The swaying branches made for the perfect white noise. Jaina relaxed, letting her senses reach out beyond her body, looking for traces of magic. The world was full of it, of course. Even in this empty little glade, she could feel a hundred different pin pricks of energy. It was about sorting them out, categorizing them, evaluating them. Here was a twinge in the shape of a sword, maybe an enchanted weapon leftover from the war, buried in the earth of this mountain pass. There was an older source of energy, a welling of subtle power that was out of Jaina’s grasp--too ancient and natural for her to tap into.

Ah, there was a nice big one. It swelled with an odd darkness, pulsing and ebbing through it. Was it moving? Where to? It seemed close.

“Pretty little human is full of magic!” An odd two-toned voice called out in booming Orcish, stirring Jaina from her trance. “Get her! I want to eat her magic heart!”

Jaina opened her eyes, finding only a curtain of willow branches at first. Then, just beyond them, two ogres splashing through the shallow waters of the spring, right towards her.

Fuck. This must have been too close to one of their camps.

“Shit!” she said as she stood, readying herself. She was proud to find that she didn’t hesitate this time. Her hands immediately spun into a frostbolt spell, holding the icy magic at bay until she could get a clear shot.

She could do this. She absolutely could. 

The first ogre tore through the branches with a massive axe, slicing the once perfect curtain with a jagged diagonal slash. He ducked beneath them and readied himself to charge at Jaina. 

He was a massive brute. A two-headed mage followed behind him, even larger, but most of his bulk was made up of fat and far less muscle. Jaina tossed the spell that was charging at her fingertips at the first ogre. It hit him in the fist that was clutching the axe, but he didn’t even drop the weapon. The frost crystalized over his knuckles and then onto the axe itself. The ogre roared in pain, but shook the ice off of himself and his weapon all the same, then started running towards her. 

Jaina was expecting to do much more damage than that. She blinked away, quickly teleporting herself back outside of the willow’s canopy. She readied another spell, this time pouring more power into it. She had time for it, at least, as the ogre took a moment to figure out where she’d gone. He sliced his way back out of the branches again and came after her with another bellowing roar.

This time, Jaina actually took a second to aim her shot. She sent the frostbolt flying at the orge’s feet, and watched as it froze them to the ground. The brute tried to keep up his charge, but fell over himself in the process, shaking the ground around them as he tumbled heavily into it, face first.

She couldn’t celebrate quite yet, as his friend was now gaining on her, and forming a ball of dark magic in his hands as he ran. Jaina hoped that the same trick would work twice, and shot another frostbolt at the ogre mage’s feet. He was smart enough to sidestep it, but he was also still splashing through the water of the spring, which froze as it was impacted by the magic. Frost crackled along the surface of the spring water, and eventually caused the ogre to slip, though not as hard or dramatically as the first one had. 

He was already struggling to regain his footing when Jaina ran closer to him, into the now icy waters of the spring, readying an ice lance that would hopefully be enough to kill him while he was distracted. She sent it flying, and watched it impact the ogre’s larger head. It didn’t have quite enough power to smash through his skull, but certainly took a nasty chunk out of the side of his face. 

He went down again, this time screaming with two voices, one far more intelligible than the other, “Ah! You hurt me, little magic girl. You full of power! Your heart will taste so good! Get her! Get her now!”

Jaina heard more steps crashing through the shallow water before she could turn around to see where they were coming from. The ogre with the axe had managed to get to his feet again and was running toward her again. But he was too close. There wasn’t enough time. Jaina tried to summon enough energy into herself to blink away again, but she was going to be cutting it close. She tried not to panic, and focused on drawing in the mana she needed as quickly as possible.

Just as the tip of his axe swung for her, a bolt of water crashed into the weapon, finally knocking it from his hands. The water she stood in rushed up against her calves in a cold wave as something surged it forward. The ogre cried out in fury and kept rushing at Jaina, his massive hands raised and ready to tear her apart. Only this time, he was pushed back by a powerful jet of water that sent him skidding back toward the muddy bank. 

The water around Jaina’s feet surged again as the jet finally stopped. A large shape blocked the sun to her right, and Jaina turned to find a water elemental shining in the orange glow of sunset, certainly taller and prouder than the last time she’d seen him fully-formed.

“Sponge!” she cried. “You came to help me!”

The elemental turned to offer her something like a brief nod before it shot off another bolt of water at the ogre that was now mired in mud, but trying to free himself to get back to his axe.

It provided enough of a distraction for Jaina to recollect herself and use the power she’d been gathering to form a much larger ice lance. She threw it at the ogre mage, who was still flailing in the waters not too far away. After it impacted him with a sickening crack, he went still and silent. 

The other ogre, upon seeing his companion die, seemed to decide that his life was more important than attacking Jaina or even retrieving his weapon. Once he managed to free himself from the mud, he turned and ran. Sponge kept pelting him with waterbolts as he went, just to be certain that he wasn’t going to change his mind, but the elemental never left Jaina’s side.

She found herself smiling up at Sponge, despite the horrible way this day had turned out. He was glorious there, sparkling in the sun. Tall, proud, fluid, yet solid. This was what he was meant to be. 

“That’s what you are. You’re a guardian,” she said to him. “A protector.”

Sponge sent one more bolt flying at the ogre before he turned his attention to her. 

“You’ve just been protecting your old masters the only way you know how,” Jaina told him. “There’s nothing left but their house, so you guard it as if you were guarding them still. And now here you are, protecting me.”

The elemental offered her that strange nod again. 

“We make a good team, Sponge,” she went on. “Would you consider doing this again, if I needed your help? I think there’s a way that I could summon you--I’ve been reading up on it--but only if you would be up for it.”

The elemental tilted his head, or at least the part of him where a head would have been. He seemed to think on her proposition for a moment, then nodded again.

“Just do me one favor, not that you really need to. I mean you can’t not do it, but...don’t tell Sylvanas about what just happened. She’d be worried sick about us.”

Jaina made a point of not looking in the direction of the fallen ogre as they left the spring. She knew what she had just done. She didn’t feel all that bad about it. He did say he was going to eat her heart, so this was a far better alternative. She just didn’t need to see it.

\---

“I have to say that your interests are all over the place these days, Lady Proudmoore.”

The elven librarian wasn’t wrong. She’d brought quite the stack of books up this time. More studies on the elemental plane. That was a given. Now that she’d managed to create a binding between herself and Sponge, she needed to understand every aspect of it. That was just what she did anymore. She dove straight into things, then learned about them as she went.

Beneath those, a few books on the battle applications of frost magic. Underneath that, techniques for mana conservation. Then last in the stack, something that was more her usual speed, a journal of theories on the origins and culture of the ogres that had crossed the Dark Portal with the Orcish Horde.

“I just have a lot of questions that need answering anymore,” Jaina offered as an excuse.

The elven man shrugged and went about the laborious process of looking up all the titles of her selections against the ledger so she could check them out.

Jaina looked around the stacks of the Citadel’s library. This was just about the only place in Dalaran she still enjoyed being in anymore. While there weren’t books there to answer every questions she had--certainly not the ones of a more personal nature--she had to appreciate the privilege she enjoyed of being able to delve through this amount of knowledge whenever she wanted to. And really, she was getting a lot of things answered. Slowly but surely, she was going to make her world make sense, one step at a time.

Her eyes eventually found a familiar figure in a far corner of the library, just out of earshot. Rhonin was always here, or at least he was whenever he wasn’t out on one of his many adventures. She could always count on seeing his red head buried in a book. But this time he wasn’t alone. Vereesa sat on his usual table, looking impatient and swinging her legs. She poked at the mage even as he tried to continue reading. Rhonin let it happen for a moment or two, then eventually gave up. He leaned back in his chair and laughed as he closed the book, then reached up to pull his wife down and into a kiss.

They both laughed as Vereesa nearly toppled over onto him, but instead saved herself with the usual acrobatic grace of a ranger, landing steadily on the ground. She then tugged Rhonin’s hand, saying something. He finally rose and followed her away, off into the shadows of the stacks.

Jaina felt a pang of jealousy stir within her. What was that like, to just have what you wanted, constantly at your fingertips? To have it be normal and safe? To be expected?

An idea began to form in her mind--something just a little bit spiteful, but also probably a lot of fun.

“Speaking of new interests,” Jaina started as she turned back to the librarian. “Do you know where I could find some instructional books on illusion magic?”

\---

They had the art of leaving notes down to a science.

It started with Jaina’s loopy, messy letters.

_Any day you can come by earlier? Maybe a little before sunset?_

Followed by elegant, spidery script that was more suited for Thalassian characters than blocky Common ones.

_Two days from now? I will be back in the city and can take “an evening for myself”._

Jaina traced the delicate curves of those letters across the paper, smiling as her fingers ghosted over them. It was two days later, but where was Sylvanas? 

She looked out of the open door of the cottage. The sun was setting earlier and earlier. Snow had begun to fall on the mountaintops. Maybe it wasn’t as low in the sky yet in Quel’thalas. Wait, no, that wasn’t how it worked…

A tap on Jaina’s shoulder stirred her from her thoughts on the nature of heavenly bodies. She turned about with a start to find a familiar pair of glowing blue-grey eyes peering at her, but from the wrong direction. There was no body underneath them. In fact, said body was hanging upside down from the rafters, and already shaking with laughter.

“How long have you been up there?” Jaina demanded. “You need to stop scaring me like that!”

Sylvanas kept laughing. “You need to pay more attention then! I’ve been up here waiting for you this whole time.”

Jaina couldn’t help but kiss that grin off of her face, even as odd as it was to do so upside down. She captured those lips possessively. This funny little elf was her Sylvanas. Only hers. She was fairly certain that no one in Azeroth else got to see the Ranger General like this anymore, always flirty and full of mischief. No. That was just for her. Just for Jaina.

Sylvanas made a show of swinging her way back down to the floor as dramatically as possible when Jaina pulled away. “Well? I’m here good and early, as requested,” she said with a bow. “What does the good Lady Proudmoore require of me?”

“Oh no, don’t you start with that again,” Jaina threatened. 

“I won’t if you tell me what we’re doing,” Sylvanas counter-offered.

Jaina put on her best pout. “Maybe I just wanted a few more hours with you than I usually get?”

“Now, now,” Sylvanas said, quickly pulling her into an embrace, “you know I would spend all the time in the world with you if I could. But--”

Jaina laid a finger to her lips. “Shh. I get it. You’re right, though. I remembered the other day that I still owe you lunch, so I hope that dinner will suffice instead.”

“From back in Dalaran? But we had lunch? Don’t you remember? The boy almost spilled tea on me twice?” Sylvanas reminded her.

“Yes, and Kael’thas paid for it when he interrupted us,” Jaina recalled. “So, I still owe you lunch.”

“I suppose you do,” Sylvanas relented. Her hands were warm on Jaina’s hips. “So what then? Will Sponge serve as our waiter this time? I think he’d do a better job, honestly.”

“No,” Jaina told her. “I had something a little more normal in mind. Just a little.”

“Well, what is it?” Sylvanas asked.

Jaina answered her with a little tap on her nose. She watched as the illusion spell she’d stored up washed over Sylvanas’ features, transforming angles into curves. A sharp cheekbone was rounded out and brought down. Her ears were chopped short and rounded as well. Her silvery blonde hair was rendered a pleasant chestnut color, and her eyes lost their glow. The spell traveled further, delicately shimmering over her whole body, adding more curves and softness to her, until the picture of a still lovely, but very human woman stood before Jaina. 

Jaina smiled, pleased with her spell, as she ran her hands through her own hair, which turned a deep umber brown where she touched it. That brown spread, consuming every bit of blonde. Jaina could feel the cool sting of the magic as it covered her eyes as well, and she commanded it to turn them another, slightly lighter shade of brown. 

Well, this was certainly fun and useful. She wondered why she hadn’t bothered to play with illusions before. 

Sylvanas looked at her own hands, which the magic had rendered to seem softer and smaller. She put them up to her face, and felt at her ears. 

“Don’t worry,” Jaina told her. “It’s just an illusion. You’re still the same underneath it.”

“When did you learn how to do this?” Sylvanas asked, clearly impressed. She moved her hand to Jaina’s hair, and watched in amazement as she ran her hand through the now dark locks.

“A couple days ago,” Jaina admitted. “It’s not that difficult, once you get the hang of it. I did spend a solid two hours trying to make an apple look like an orange, but after I got that right, everything else just fell into place. And now we look suitably normal enough to go out to dinner. Well, wait.”

Jaina tapped at the beautifully-made elven shirt Sylvanas was wearing, rendering it’s fine cream-colored fabric into a muted tan homespun. The second tremor of magic rippled down through the elf’s tight black pants as well, giving them a looser and slightly shabbier look. Even her boots were too nice, so Jaina had her spell scuff them up and dull the shine of their leather/ Her new outfit was certainly no fashion statement, but was definitely more in line with typical human attire.

“Now we are,” Jaina said as the spell finished. “Just boring and human enough. Completely unremarkable, if I do say so myself.”

“I don’t suppose you have a solution for this?” Sylvanas asked, pointing to her mouth to indicate the lilting elven accent that did indeed seem very strange coming from a human mouth.

Jaina laughed and shook her head. “Not one that I could perfect just yet. Only that you let me do the talking, for once.”

She quickly chanted out a portal incantation, opening a rift that shimmered on the other end with the image of the pine-studded woodlands of northern Lordaeron, just outside a little town she’d been to a few times before, one that had a nice inn, but not too nice. Again, just enough, just normal. A place where regular people went to eat, drink, and socialize.

As good a place as any to play pretend.

Sylvanas shook head head and laughed as Jaina held out a hand and guided them across the portal.

“Hearthglen?” she asked as they stepped out. 

She was right. Of course she was. The woods around the village were quiet, hushed in the warm evening, anticipating the night to come. They were just out of sight of the guard towers, but close enough for Sylvanas’ sharp eyes to spot the blue tiled roofs. 

“I’m never going to manage to actually surprise you, am I?” Jaina groaned as she closed the portal behind them. 

“You do every time we meet,” Sylvanas assured her. She offered a kiss along with that statement, though she had a bit of difficult time judging where their faces actually were in comparison to the illusions that covered them.

“You’ll need to behave from here on out,” Jaina warned, even as she tugged Sylvanas back toward her for one more quick kiss. “Remember that you’re a prudish human right now.”

“I will pretend that you are my grandmother then,” Sylvanas retorted.

“Not that prudish, please,” Jaina told her. “And try to--I don’t know--slouch more? Your posture is too good.”

Sylvanas grumbled about it, but was convincing enough not to turn the heads of the gate guards or any of the other citizens of the Hearthglen. As Jaina had hoped, most of the people paid no mind to either of them. They just went about their business, closing up shops for the evening, setting aside the tools of their trades. They were too busy living their normal lives to even bother offering two simple travelers anything more than a passing glance. 

It was wonderful, somehow.

Even the innkeeper was minimally attentive at best. He sat them at a table far from the little stage, where a couple of men were setting up to play for the night--one with a few small hand drums and another with a simple guitar. Jaina ordered them dinner, which at a place as small as this, was whatever was cooking in the back and nothing more, and a bottle of wine. 

For a while, they just sat and watched the two man band as they readied themselves for their first song. One tuned his guitar while the other tapped out a few rhythms on one of the drums to make sure it was the correct one. As they finally struck up a tune, Sylvanas hand found Jaina’s under the table, and gave it a light squeeze.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a place like this,” she said, keeping her voice low.

“I’ve been here before,” Jaina told her. “But not like this. Arthas took me here a few times, and with him everything was always pomp and circumstance. I have to say it’s really nice not to be made a fuss over.”

“I have to agree,” Sylvanas told her with another squeeze of her hand. 

She didn’t let go until the innkeeper was back with their wine. 

It wasn’t very good, or even really that bad. Just a plain, dry red, served with simple clay goblets. Sylvanas had to open the bottle for them even, and Jaina was hardly surprised to find that she did so expertly with just a table knife. Their dinner came shortly thereafter, which was decidedly better than the wine--slices of roast turkey with rich gravy, mashed potatoes, and sweet carrots. Everyday food, but flavorful and filling--still very tasty even without being speckled with exotic spices or stuffed with rare fruit. 

They ate. They drank. They talked softly, just loud enough to hear one another over the music, but not loud enough for the next table over to be able to follow their conversation. They watched as the local crowd filled the inn, and as the ale began to flow freely later in the night, they all joined in, singing with the man playing guitar. They sang old songs of Lordaeron--tales of brave knights and powerful sorcerers, of wars won and treasures discovered--always of good things, victories and triumphs. 

Jaina watched as Sylvanas tapped along with the melodies. She obviously knew them. Everyone did. Jaina was sure that such old songs were still probably favorites in even the most sophisticated concert halls of Quel’thalas. They might have had different words there, maybe ones that spoke of victories over trolls instead of other kingdoms, but the tunes were the same. She knew the elf was dying to sing along, but she kept herself restrained, not wanting to do anything to ruin the illusion.

As the songs got louder and sloppier, Jaina flagged down the innkeeper and paid their tab. She ushered Sylvanas out of the inn and back into the cooling air of the evening. 

Outside, the night sky was wonderfully clear, sparkling with an impressive array of stars. Jaina thought for a moment, reaching inside herself briefly to check on the constraints of her power. She had enough left to maintain their illusions for maybe another hour or two. Not wanting the night to end too quickly, she found another diversion for them, one that appeared to be far more private, and blessedly quiet for the night.

At the center of the town, an old, disused mage tower stood. It was dark and unguarded. Jaina was pretty certain that she’d heard it was once used by the Kirin Tor for stellar observations, but that it had fallen out of favor when more sophisticated observatories had become available over the years. 

“Come with me,” she whispered to Sylvanas, taking her hand as she pulled her over toward the tower.

The door was locked, but it was nothing that a quick incantation couldn’t take care of. Sylvanas followed her eagerly up the stairs, daring to place a few kisses on Jaina’s hand as she led them up the winding staircase. The top of the tower was open to the sky. They reached it to find the lights of Hearthglen just far enough removed so as not to diminish the view. From up here, secluded in the mountains as this place was, the sky sparkled as if it were filled with thousands upon thousands of jewels. 

Jaina almost let out a little yelp as Sylvanas pulled her down. Even though her illusion disguised it well, the elf still had enough strength to lower them both gently to the floor of the tower top. She laid Jaina beside her and then rolled onto her back to look up at the night sky.

“This is wonderful,” Sylvanas told her after a moment.

“The stars? They are beautiful tonight, aren’t they?” Jaina asked as she turned to watch the stunning display of the heavens. 

Sylvanas didn’t answer for a while. She just laid still, staring at the sky, until she finally said, “No, this night. You. Just being here. What do humans call that one there?” She pointed to a constellation in the southern sky.

“Don’t try to distract me from what you just said!” Jaina said, giving her a little punch on the arm. “I try hard to impress you, you know. I’m allowed to enjoy the fact that I just did.”

“You don’t need to impress me, Jaina,” Sylvanas told her. “I enjoy our time together regardless of how we choose to pass it. But this was especially nice--just to feel free. You always make me feel that way, but it was nice of the world to agree with us tonight, wasn’t it?”

“It really was,” Jaina replied. She reached out for Sylvanas’ hand, grabbing hold of it and guiding it to point toward the constellation again. “We call that one the Plowman. Well, in Lordaeron they do. In Kul Tiras, he’s the Ferryman instead. I like Ferryman better. It looks like he’s holding an oar, not pushing a plow, right?”

“Jaina, are we even looking at the same thing? That’s the Panther. See the two little clusters below her? Those are her cubs. She’s protecting them from the Bold Hunter over there,” Sylvanas explained, moving their hands to point along at the other groups of stars.

“How is that even a panther?” Jaina asked.

“Look,” Sylvanas said, drawing it out with their joined hands. “That’s her tail there, curled up because she’s angry. Those are her legs. That’s her head.”

“Oh I see,” Jaina told her as the shape began to make sense. “The Ferryman is her back half and the Compass Rose is her front.”

Jaina learned that night that elven constellations were much larger and grander than Kul Tiran ones. They painted an elaborate tapestry, telling a story of many characters--of gods and demigods and ancient beasts all locked in eternal battles. They’d only covered a fourth of the night sky before she began to feel the familiar tug in her chest as her reserves were running low. Her magic was starting to eat at her physical energies now. She needed to stop feeding the illusions before she grew too fatigued. 

Jaina explained this to Sylvanas, who only nodded and helped her back to her feet. She wished that they could go on all night, that she could have the whole story of the sky spoken to her in that beautiful voice. But like all good things, it had to come to an end. 

“Jaina, look,” Sylvanas said, pointing upwards again.

A meteor streaked across the perfect sky, leaving a streak of brilliant white against the inky blackness before it all too quickly dwindled into nothing. 

“Make a wish,” Sylvanas said with a grin.

“I wish--” Jaina started.

“No! You mustn’t say it,” Sylvanas warned. “Don’t you know? The only way it will come true is if you don’t tell anyone.”

Jaina rethought her wish then and there, and smiled as she formed it in her head. “I suppose I’ll just have to find out if that works, won’t I?”

“You will have to wait and see,” Sylvanas told her. 

They made their way down the spiral staircase again, and back to the door, which Jaina properly locked behind them. It would seem to the townsfolk as if they were never there, which was exactly what she wanted. 

They passed the gate guards again on their way back out to the forest. 

“Be careful traveling at night, ladies,” one of them said as he waved them through, “King Terenas keeps these roads safe from bandits, but there’s still plenty of bears to worry about in the foothills.”

“And the plague that’s going around,” the other guard chimed in.

“Enough with those nonsense rumors, Gregory!” the first guard warned. “Pardon my friend here, ladies. Safe travels to you.”

Jaina just nodded in response. Normally she would have pried, but she needed to hurry if she was still going to have enough mana left to portal them home. 

“Hmm, a plague? I wonder what was that about?” Sylvanas wondered as Jaina opened the portal just out of view of the guards.

\---

Jaina would find out soon enough. In fact, those rumors were the talk of Dalaran just a few days later. It was said that several small villages had seen massive deaths from this mysterious sickness that had only begun to appear in the last few weeks. Messengers would ride through to find entire villages silent. Children were running to the woods, trying to fend for themselves there as their entire families had perished in a single night. 

These kind of peasant rumors weren’t entirely uncommon, but this one was spreading so fast that it became worthy of a real investigation. King Terenas had already sent some forces to one of the supposedly affected villages, and there was talk of the Kirin Tor launching their own investigation. 

There was also another rumor floating around. One of a supposed prophet, who was going around to all the human kingdoms, warning their leaders of impending doom and telling them to flee across the sea--telling them that abandoning their land was the only hope for their people.

People were beginning to connect the two. The city had begun to carry an air of unsettled anxiety as mages discussed both the plague and the prophet in hushed whispers, wondering what about these rumors was true and what was not. 

But Jaina had other concerns on her mind at the moment. Ones far less grand.

Her apparent aptitude for illusion magic had made her bold enough to try her hand at invisibility, and Tides was it easy. She cursed herself for not learning this when she was still living at court in Lordaeron. It would have made her usual snooping there so much easier. She was perfecting her technique by sneaking into a private garden reserved for Archmages only. She’d always wanted to see it. So far, the place was relatively disappointing. Just a few fountains and topiaries. It was peaceful, sure, but probably not worth getting caught in.

She was making her way out as she spotting Antonidas by one of the fountains, speaking with a man she didn’t recognize.

“You must be wiser than the King! The end is near!” the strange man warned.

“I told you before,” Antonidas said with a dismissive wave of his staff. “I’m not interested in this nonsense!”

The strange man offered him a heavy sigh before saying, “Then I’ve wasted my time here.”

Jaina watched in awe as he transformed seamlessly into a raven. Such things were possible, yes, but incredibly advanced. Jaina had seen self-polymorph spells demonstrated a few times, but they usually took much longer and were not very functional. Yet, as if to prove her knowledge even more lacking, the raven took off into a perfect flight, quickly soaring past the purple spires of the city and into the sky.

Atonidas shook his head, then turned to look directly at her. She could feel the tendrils of magic coming from him as he sensed her presence. “You can show yourself now, Jaina. He’s gone.”

Well, there it was. She had no choice but to comply. Jaina let go of her invisibility spell and felt her voice reach up a few notes to sound younger and more innocent as she approached the Archmage and said, “I’m sorry for eavesdropping master, but--”

Antonidas waved the hand that wasn’t clutching his staff. “It’s your inquisitive nature that I’ve come to rely on, child. That crazed fool’s convinced the world is about to end.”

So that was him. The prophet she’d heard about. 

“Walk with me, child,” Atonidas said, offering his arm to her. 

Jaina could do nothing more than slip her arm through his, and steady the old man as he began to slowly walk her through the garden. She tried her best to change the subject, citing something that she’d heard spoken around the Citadel about Antonidas’ latest theory, “I’ve heard the rumors of the plague spreading throughout the northlands. Do you truly believe that the plague is magical in nature?”

“It is a strong possibility,” Atonidas told her, thankfully taking the bait. “That’s why I need you to travel there and investigate the matter. I’ve arranged for a special envoy to assist you. Well, I should say that this special envoy also requested you specifically.”

That was another rumor that she’d heard. That it was Arthas that was in charge of the troops that were investigating the plague. Arthas, who she’d written to twice in these last few weeks, and still not had any reply from. Great. Just great.

But she couldn’t refuse. Even as a full member of the Kirin Tor, she was still just another apprentice in Antonidas’ eyes. Even if she wanted to say no, it would be a great insult to the Archmage, one that she didn’t dare deal. “Yes, master. I’ll do my best.”

Antonidas brought her to the gates of the garden and opened them for her with a wave of his staff. He waited for her to cross the threshold before saying, “I know you will, child. Farewell.”

\---

“So you leave tomorrow then?” Sylvanas asked her.

Jaina was back in her arms. She hadn’t left them all night. Honestly, she could care less about the plague, or about dealing with Arthas. All those concerns seemed minor versus the fact that she probably wouldn’t be able to reliably sneak away to see Sylvanas until this was all over and she was back in Dalaran again. 

“Yes, I’m meeting Arthas and his men in the morning, actually in the foothills just a few miles from here. There’s a village there that Antonidas believes may be one of the possible points of origin for the plague,” Jaina explained as she buried her face further into Sylvanas’ neck. 

“You’ll be alright,” Sylvanas told Jaina as she stroked through her hair. As if her hands couldn’t help themselves, they began to weave a tiny braid out of a few strands. “I know you can handle yourself, plus you’ll have your second least favorite prince in the world to defend you if anything goes sour.”

“I’m starting to think that he’s become my least favorite now. Move over Kael’thas. But it’s not that I’m worried about. I just don’t know how long I’ll be gone. I’m going to miss you,” Jaina said, kissing the tip of a sensitive ear, which flicked defiantly away from her, only for Sylvanas to lean in and encourage further attention. Yes, that was one of the many things she would be missing.

“And will miss you,” Sylvanas said as she started weaving a second tiny braid. “As I always do.”

“I wish...I wish that I never had to leave this place,” Jaina confessed. “Being here with you, whenever we can make it happen, is the best part of my life right now. And honestly, I should feel terrible about that. Otherwise, I’m living my dream--learning magic, working for the Kirin Tor. Yet that’s not really what I want anymore.”

“It is, though,” Sylvanas told her as she started to twine the two braids together. “You can have both. For now at least. Myself and your work are not mutually exclusive. Nor should they be. And if you asked me to choose, you know the choice I’d have to make. I’m just as bound as you are, if not more, but I wouldn’t give it up for the world. People need us, Jaina. You and I can both make a difference in this world. We should continue to do so.”

“You’re too good, you know that?” Jaina scolded her. “Let me be selfish for a moment, will you?”

Sylvanas laughed. “You’re still entitled to being selfish now and then too. You can be very selfish tonight. And once this is over, we can go back to being selfish together when we can.”

Jaina placed another kiss on that stubborn ear, finding a smile finally creep onto her lips as it flicked away again. “Then I’m going to do something very selfish,” she husked against it.

“Oh? Do tell,” Sylvanas responded.

“Lie back if you want to find out,” Jaina commanded. She shifted her weight, drawing her knees up to help her get leverage over the elf as she loomed over her, pushing her gently down onto the bed.

Sylvanas’ eyes shot to the hand on her chest and a grin spread over her sharp features as she complied and lowered herself down onto the mattress. “I like selfish Jaina.”

Selfish Jaina didn’t waste time. She only unbuttoned enough of the buttons on Sylvanas’ shirt to grant her hands easy access underneath it. She let them roam to places she knew they were welcome and wanted. She took immense pride in the fact that she had the Ranger General of Silvermoon squirming beneath her after only a few light caresses in the right places. It seemed as though magic wasn’t the only thing she was a quick study at. 

“I like her very much,” Sylvanas husked against her as Jaina moved up plant a kiss on a new favorite spot of hers, just where the elf’s ear met her cheek.

Jaina wondered how much longer she would have to wait for her wish to come true. It seemed like they were always just shy of it. The word would hover on her lips, waiting to be said, but she was always too afraid they wouldn’t be echoed back to her. Perhaps that falling star would help. Tonight was as good as any night. 

She worked her way expertly over Sylvanas’ body, showing her everything that she had learned. And she was still learning. She recorded each new shiver, each little unexpected gasp, and noted what had caused it. She wanted to have enough to fill a book one day, one that she could never publish. 

She still couldn’t help but take time to admire the lean muscles she revealed as she peeled off Sylvanas’ trousers. Those were always a welcome sight. Jaina ran her nails against those hardened thighs, eliciting yet another gasp. Sylvanas reached out, trying to pull her back, but Jaina evaded her.

“Not this time,” Jaina warned. “Selfish Jaina wants you to know exactly how much she’ll miss you.”

The look she got as she kneeled between Sylvanas’ thighs was new, though. The elf propped herself up on her elbows just enough to be able to peer at her, questioningly. Jaina pushed her back down flat again. 

Jaina was beginning to appreciate that old proverb about actions speaking louder than words. She took it to heart as she set her mouth to Sylvanas’ thigh and began kissing her way up. Sylvanas in turn, offered no further protests, save for a shuddering sigh when Jaina reached her destination.

Jaina started slowly, just barely letting her tongue slip past her lips. She listened as Sylvanas whined in frustration, and only then did she start in earnest. 

There was truly nothing better in this world than turning her strong, confident lover into a puddle of writhing want. Jaina had gone through many new favorite things in the past few months, but she was beginning to think that this would become a permanent one. She could listen to the noises that Sylvanas made for hours and never tire of them. She would long for those desperate fingers trying to grasp at her and pull her further in. She would miss even the thighs that squeezed her just a little too tightly at times. 

She would also be especially proud at how good she’d gotten at this. Clearly Sylvanas agreed with her, especially when she brought her hand into play. She would never get over how she could feel muscles tightening down around her fingers, just as Sylvanas began to pant frantically. Whispers of her name followed, mostly just the first syllable. 

Yes, making Sylvanas come was definitely her favorite thing.

\---

Jaina woke that morning before dawn. For once, she was up before Sylvanas. An idea stirred her in mind, something far too brilliant to have come from the waking world. She would have to thank whatever dream had brought it to her.

She woke Sylvanas up as she fiddled with the wooden pendant the elf still wore around her neck. Jaina had conjured up a pen and was carefully etching a new rune onto the blank back side of the wood. 

“Hold still,” she warned as Sylvanas’ eyes opened and bathed them in the light of their soft glow.

Sylvanas obeyed, allowing Jaina to finish the rune. She smiled as she did so, and showed Sylvanas it’s twin on her own charm. “I had a thought for being able to better plan our next meeting, once this plague thing is all over. I’ve bound these two runes together so that if either of us presses on it for a few seconds, the other’s will glow a bit stronger and send out a little jolt of energy. We can use it to let each other know that we’re here.”

“Or if you need to see me right away,” Sylvanas noted. “Clever little thing, you.”

Jaina leaned in and kissed her. “I always need you.”

“Likewise,” Sylvanas told her. “But for now, you need to get ready to go.”

It seemed like Jaina was going to have to wait a little longer to get her wish. But she would be patient for as long as the stars decided she had to be.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Like Water Falling](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17772569) by [Redisaid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redisaid/pseuds/Redisaid)




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